Variable-range peep-sight for firearms.



GR 1122A115 J. W. HILL.

VARIABLE RANGE PEEP SIGHT FOR FIREARMS.

APPLICATION FILED MAR.24, 1914.

Patented Dec. 22, 1914.

WITNESSES JV flMW/MZ A TTORNEYS JOHN WILLIAM HILL, OF PALISADES, NEW YORK.

VARIABLE-RANGE PEEP-SIGHT FOR FIREARMS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Dec. 22, 1914.

Application filed March 24, 1914. Serial No. 826,849.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, JOHN W'. HILL, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Palisades, in the county of Rockland and State of New York, have invented a new and Improved Variable-Range Peep-Sight for Firearms, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

This invention relates to sights of the peep type for rifles and other firearms, and has to deal more particularly with adjustable or variable range peep sights.

The invention has for its general objects to improve and simplify the construction of devices of the character referred to so as to be reliable and efficient in use, comparatively inexpensive to manufacture, and so designed as to enable the sight to be quickly and accurately adjusted for any range within the capacity of the firearm to which it is applied.

A more specific object of the invention is the provision of a movable peep sight arranged in a suitable mounting and is adapted to be raised or lowered for obtaining the various ranges by means of a co-acting spring and a stepped element, which latter is adjustable to bring any step into engagement with the peep sight to vary the set thereof.

A further object of the invention is the provision of a novel form of peep sight which insures a well defined peep opening without possibility of a blurring eflect being produced, the peep sight being a hollow, conical body with its widest end presented to the sighting eye and with the peep opening at the apex, the interior of the conical peep sight being devoid of bright surfaces, so that there will be no reflections of rays of light which would interfere with the outline of the peep opening.

With such objects in view, and others which will appear as the description proceeds, the invention comprises various novel features of construction and arrangement of parts which will be set forth with particularity in the following description and claims appended hereto.

- In the accompanying drawings which illustrate one embodiment of the invention, and wherein similar characters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the views, Figure 1 is a perspective view of the sighting device; Fig. 2 is a side view with the mounting or supporting body in section, the section being taken parallel with the line of sight; and Fig. 3 is a rear view partly in section.

Referring to the drawing, A designates the base-piece, which is of any desired shape and is adapted to be fastened by screws passing through openings 1 to the breech portion of a gun, and mounted on the base piece is the body or mounting structure for the peep sight (3. The body B is of approximately cylindrical form and has at its rear portion a pair of rearwardly-extending lugs 2 which are spaced apart to receive between them an upstanding lug 3 on the base-piece A, and through these lugs passes a screw or bolt 4 that serves as a hinge pintle whereby the sighting device can be swung backwardly or to the right, Fig. 2, to the dotted line position, where it will be out of use. Immediately in front of the hinge connection between the base-piece and body B is a rest 5 formed on the base-piece A on which the body B is supported when the peep sight is in position for use. The body B has an upwardly extending boss 6 which constitutes a guide for the stem 7 of the peep sight 0, such stem being slidable in an opening 8 in the top of the boss and having a piston-like enlargement 9 which slidably fits in the bore 10 of the boss. A spring 11 is arranged within the boss, with one end bearing against the shoulder 12 and the other end bearing on the shoulder 13 formed by the enlargement 9, whereby the spring tends to hold the peep sight in lowered position.

Within the chamber 14 of the body B is an adjusting device for elevating the peep sight. In the present instance this device is in the form of a rotary cam or stepped wheel 15 that has a shaft or arbor 16 journaled in bearings 17 and 18 in the opposite walls of the chamber 14, and on one end of this shaft is an operating knob or equivalent means 19 whereby the shaft, and hence the stepped wheel 15, can be rotated for raising and lowering the peep sight. The wheel 15 in the present instance is provided with a plurality of flat stepped surfaces 20 which are successively disposed at greater radial distances from the axis of rotation, and on one side of the wheel 15 are suitable range indicating numbers which are exposed through an opening 21 in the side of the body A opposite from the operating knob 19. In the present instance the number 50 indicates fifty yards; the number 1 one hundred yards, the number 2 two hundred yards, etc. The lower end of the stem, which has a slightly rounded edge 22, rides on the periphery of the stepped wheel or cam 15. so that as the same is turned in an anti-clockwise direction, Fig. 2, the peep sight will be elevated in opposition to the spring 11. To prevent turning of the peep sight on the stem 7 as a center, the lower end of such stem is formed into a tongue 23 which engages in a peripheral groove 24 formed in the stepped wheel 15, as clearly shown in Fig. 3.

The peep sight C may be of any desired construction, but in the present instance it is shown as a hollow cone 25 which has its axis disposed horizontally or parallel with the bore of the cone to which the sighting device is applied. The apex of the cone has a peep opening 26, and the open chambered side of the hollow cone is presented to the vision. By reason of this arrangement the hollow of the peep sight is in shadow and the peep opening will therefore be sharp and well defined, with no blurring efiect due to light reflections. The sight adjusting means has the advantage of enabling the peep sight to be quickly and accurately adjusted to any desired range, as it is merely necessary to turn the knob 19 one or more steps, and no clamping means have to be unclamped and reclamped, as is commonly necessary with other forms of adjustable sighting devices.

From the foregoing description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, the advantages of the construction and method of operation will be readily understood by those skilled in the art to which the invention appertains, and while I have described the device which I now consider to be the best embodiment thereof, I desire to have it understood that the device shown is merely illustrative and that such changes may be made as desired within the scope of the appended claims.

Having thus described my invention, I

claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent:

1. A rear sighting device for firearms, comprising a supporting structure, a stepped member movably mounted on the structure, a sighting element slidably mounted in the structure, and interengaging means on the stepped member and sighting element for preventing turning of the latter on its axis.

2. A rear sighting device for firearms, comprising a supporting structure, a rotary stepped member mounted thereon, a longitudinally movable sighting element having its lower end bearing on the stepped member, and means for preventing the sighting element from turning in every position of its longitudinal adjustment.

3. A rear sight for firearms, comprising a supporting structure, an elevatable sighting element therein, a stepped rotary elevating member mounted on the structure and with which the sighting element engages, means within the structure for yieldingly maintaining the sighting device in engagement with the said member, and means for operating the said member.

4. A sighting device of the class described, comprising a supporting structure, a rotary stepped element therein, a sighting element having a stem engaging the stepped element, a spring on the stem and housed in the structure for holding the latter yieldingly against the stepped element, and means for turning the stepped element.

5. A sighting device of the class described, comprising a supporting structure, a rotary stepped element therein, a sighting element having a stem engaging the stepped element, a spring on the stem for holding the latter yieldingly against the stepped element, means for turning the stepped element, said stepped element having a peripheral groove, and a tongue on the stem engaging in the groove to prevent the stem from turning.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

JOHN IVILLIAH HILL.

Witnesses LOUIs HERTEREIL, GEORGE MANN.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. 0. 

